Unsafe Ground: Landslides and Other Mass Movements

Mass Movements Downslope motion of earth materials by gravity.

Mass movements are a type of natural hazard.

Natural feature of the environment.

Can cause damage to living things and buildings.

These hazards can produce catastrophic losses.

Mass Movements Mass movements are important to the rock cycle.

The initial step in sediment transportation.

A significant agent of landscape change.

All slopes are unstable; they change continuously.

Mass movement is often aided by human activity.

Types of Mass Wasting Classification based upon four factors:

Type of material (rock, regolith, snow, or ice).

Rate of movement (fast, intermediate, or slow).

Nature of moving mass (cloud, slurry, or distinct blocks).

Surroundings (subaerial or submarine).

Types of Mass Wasting

Types of Mass Wasting Creep – Slow downhill movement of regolith.

Due to expansion and contraction.

Wetting and drying.

Freezing and thawing.

Grains are moved…

Perpendicular to slope upon expansion.

Vertically by gravity upon contraction.

Types of Mass Wasting Creep initiates tilt of trees, gravestones, and walls.

Types of Mass Wasting

Solifluction – Slow downhill movement of tundra.

Melted permafrost slowly flows over deeper frozen soil.

This process generates hillsides with solifluction lobes.

Slumping – Sliding of regolith as coherent blocks.

Slippage occurs along a spoon-shaped “failure surface.”

Display a variety of sizes and rates of motion.

Have distinctive features…

Head scarp.

Bulging toe.

Types of Mass Wasting

Types of Mass Wasting

Mudflows and debris flows – H2O-rich movement.

Mudflow – A slurry of water and fine sediment.

Debris flow – A mudflow with many large rocks.

Types of Mass Wasting

Lahar – A special volcanic mud or debris flow.

Volcanic ash (recent or ongoing eruptions) mixes with...

Water from heavy rains or melted glacial ice.

Types of Mass Wasting Landslides – Movement down a non-vertical slope.

Rock slide – A slide consisting of rock only.

Debris slide – A slide comprised mostly of regolith.

Movement down the failure surface is sudden and deadly.

Slide debris can move at 300 km/hour on a cushion of air.

Types of Mass Wasting Avalanches – Turbulent clouds of debris and air.

Snow avalanche – Oversteepened snow that detaches.

Debris avalanche – Rock and dust fragments.

Move up to 250 km/hr on a cushioning layer of air.

Reoccur in defined chutes; destroy stationary objects.

Types of Mass Wasting Rockfalls and debris falls – Vertical freefall of

rock mass.

Bedrock or regolith falls rapidly downward.

When blocks impact, they fragment and continue moving.

Talus blocks pile up at the base of the slope.

Types of Mass Wasting Submarine mass movements – Slides under ocean water.

Enormous volumes of material are moved downslope.

Large slides alter the sea floor bathymetry.

These movements may trigger gigantic tsunami waves.

Why Mass Movement? Mass movements require that earth materials...

Be subjected to topographic (slope) forces.

Be weakened or loosened from their attachments.

Fragmentation and weathering.

The upper crust is broken by jointing and faulting.

Chemical and physical

weathering produces regolith.

Surface material is much

weaker than solid crustal rock.

Weakening the Surface

Slopes may be stable or unstable.

Slope stability is a dynamic balance between two forces.

Downslope force – Gravitational pull.

Resisting force – Material properties that repel motion.

Movement occurs

when downslope

forces prevail.

Downslope forces = Gravity.

The weight of earth materials.

The weight of added water.

The weight of added structures.

Resisting forces = Material strength.

Cohesion.

Chemical bonds.

Electrical charges.

Surface tension.

Friction.

Steeper slopes = larger forces.

Slope Stability

Slope Stability Loose granular material assumes a slope angle.

“Angle of repose” is a material property due to...

Particle size and shape and the surface roughness.

Typical angles of repose.

Fine Sand 35o

Coarse Sand 40o

Angular Pebbles 45o

Failure Surfaces Weak subsurface layers can initiate motion.

Types of “failure surfaces” include…

Saturated sand or clay layers.

Joints parallel to the land surface.

Weak sedimentary bedding (shale, evaporites).

Metamorphic foliation.

Failure Triggers

A destabilizing event usually triggers slope failure.

Triggers are both natural and anthropogenic.

Shocks, vibrations, and liquefaction.

Changes in slope angles, loads, and support.

Changes in slope strength.

Tectonic effects.

Failure Triggers A triggering event is not necessary for movement.

Slope materials weaken over time.

Gravity continues to operate.

Mass movements are often random and unpredictable.

Failure Triggers Shocks, vibrations, and liquefaction.

Ground vibrations decrease material friction.

On an unstable slope, the downslope force takes over.

Vibrations are common.

Motion of heavy machinery or trains.

Earthquakes.

Failure Triggers Vibrations cause saturated sediments to liquefy.

Quick clay – Pore water slurries clay flakes when shaken.

Saturated sand – Fluidized by increase in pore pressure.

Failure Triggers Changes in characteristics can destabilize a slope.

Angle – Steepening a slope beyond the angle of repose.

Loading – Adding weight to the top of a slope.

Water – As rain or via humans (lawns, septic systems).

Waste materials and fill.

Buildings.

Failure Triggers Changes in characteristics can destabilize a slope.

Removing support – Undercutting a slope leads to failure.

Natural – River eroding the base of a slope.

Human-induced – Excavating the base of a slope.

Failure Triggers Changes in slope strength.

Weathering – Creates weaker regolith.

Vegetation – Stabilizes slopes. Removing vegetation…

Greatly slows removal of excess water.

Destroys an effective stapling mechanism (roots).

Slope failures common after forest fires destroy vegetation.

Failure Triggers Changes in slope strength.

Water – Reduces slope strength in several ways.

Adds a great deal of weight .

Water in pores pushes grains apart, easing disintegration.

Water lubricates grain contacts.

Removing water, thereby, strengthens a failure surface.

Case Study

1925 Gros Ventre slide, near Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

Gros Ventre River cut dipping beds on Sheep Mountain.

Lubricated by rain, the slope failed on the Amsden Shale.

40 million m3 slid 600 m, creating Slide Lake.

Tectonic Linkage Tectonic processes influence mass movements.

Create uplift – Topography is directly linked to gravity.

Fragment crust – Joints and faults ease disintegration.

Generate seismicity – Earthquakes trigger motion.

Identifying Slope Hazards Geologic mapping can identify regions at risk.

Highlight past failures (scarps, hummocky land, etc.)

Reveal currently unstable slopes.

Cracked and bulging ground.

Measurable changes in surveyed land features.

GPS can detect

slow movements.

Mitigating Slope Hazards How can humans mitigate the slope hazards?

Develop strategies for minimizing disaster potential.

Institutional controls on development.

Well-designed evacuation plans.

Slope-monitoring programs.

An educated populace.

Action can reduce mass movement hazards.

Revegetation – Adding plants has two positive effects:

It removes water by evapotranspiration.

Roots help to bind and anchor regolith.

Prevention

Action can reduce mass movement hazards.

Redistributing mass by terracing.

Removes some of the mass loading a slope.

Catches debris.

Prevention

Action can reduce mass movement hazards.

Regrading – Reshaping slopes below the angle of repose.

Drainage – Dewatering reduces weight; increases strength.

Prevention

Prevention Action can reduce mass movement hazards.

Slowing or eliminating undercutting – Increases stability.

Removing agent of erosion at the base of a slope.

Reducing the effect of the agent of erosion (i.e. riprap).

Prevention Action can reduce mass movement hazards.

Engineered structures – Safety structures can be built to improve slope stability or to reduce movement hazards.

Retaining walls – Barriers that pin the base and trap rock.

Covers – Fencing or coating that drapes over the outcrop.

Prevention Engineered structures.

Rock staples – Rods drilled into rock to hold loose facing.

Prevention Engineered structures.

Avalanche sheds – Structures that shunt avalanche snow.

Controlled blasting – Surgical removal of dangerous rock.